


Words of One Syllable

by tangerine (arte)



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 13:57:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5377754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arte/pseuds/tangerine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Sincerity shines brighter in simplicity. No room to maneuver."</p><p>"Should truth be reduced to morsels, easy to swallow?" </p><p>"Maybe I just want to hear you speaking only in words of one syllable," Will grinned sharply. "Are you even capable of that, Doctor?"</p><p>-</p><p>Or, a series of oneshots in which Will and Hannibal play another layer of game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"I wish you'd quit hiding behind your eloquent words." 

Hannibal tilted his head. "How am I hiding?"

Will breathed in, deep and slow but not to obvious. He had a feeling that Hannibal would rather enjoy it if he did anything drastic like thrusting his hands between the bars to ring his neck. 

"Behind metaphor and long-winded words," he said. "Half-truth slips so easily between them."

"One could argue that those are tools for precision, to give voice to indefinable. Isn't that why poetry exists?" Hannibal asked, eyes sincere, searching. "If possible, I always aim to explain myself to the fullest to you, Will." 

Will didn't want to acknowledge anything. 

"Sincerity shines brighter in simplicity. No room to maneuver."

"Should truth be reduced to morsels, easy to swallow?" 

"Maybe I just want to hear you speaking only in words of one syllable," Will grinned sharply. "Are you even capable of that, Doctor?"

"Are you?" Hannibal returned. Then, with a faint glint of mischief he asked, "Should each of us try?"

Will narrowed his eyes. "Why would you want to?" 

"I hope it would help you trust me."

"Trust," Will said flatly. "You want to build trust on a game." 

"Haven't we done so in the past?"

"Have we? Was it all game?" 

"Will," Hannibal said, tone reproachful. "You know it wasn't." 

Thousands of accusations clamored in Will's mind. He blinked, swallowed, unspoken words bitter in his mouth. He reminded himself that he had a role to play.

"I can't trust what I hope to be the truth," he said softly, like he was still the man who wanted Dr. Lecter's friendship. Like he was an wounded animal secretly hoping for warm and kind hand.

Hannibal looked at him like he wanted to give him everything on a silve plate. "Let me help you, Will."

 _He was so good at this_ , Will marveled, despaired. It was unfair. Lecter shouldn't be allowed to even mimick a shadow of kindness. 

"Baby steps," Will flashed a painful smile. "Let's give this game a shot."

Hannibal's eyes gleamed like he just won. Will wanted to strip everything away from him until nothing but blackened monster was left behind. 

For now, he contented himself with caging the monster's voice in the words of one syllable. 

The ravenstag left, its footsteps even and simple.


	2. Chapter 2

With Hannibal, it was always unexpected turns, sudden drop of the floor, a secret door leading to another secret door leading back to the main entrance. 

Still, Will thought that he should have seen this coming somehow.

"Tell me what you see," Beverly said, handing him the file of the latest Mural Maker murder. It was amazing how perfectly she was playing the game despite not knowing the rule. 

Beside her, Hannibal was watching him with twinkling eyes. Apparently, he got bored with how good both of them were in their game and decided to up the ante.

Which was downright juvenile. 

Will took the file. He wasn't going to play along. He'd let the pendulum swing and describe what he saw using as many syllables as he deemed necessary. 

That was what he would have done, if Hannibal hadn't the audacity to offer up his own kill to Will with an FBI agent by his side like some demented cat dropping its kill on the front door. Will didn't want to think about Cassandra at the moment.

The silence prolonged.

"Care to share with us, Will?" Hannibal prompted, looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. He was using the same tone he used when he had poked Will about the Ripper case in the past. _Fishing for compliment._  
Will didn't want to give him the satisfaction. The best way to accomplish that would be to stick to their game, limit both of their vocabulary and stop any artistic admiration from leaking into their conversation. Even so, Hannibal would probably find amusement in seeing Will playing along with their private joke. The man had an irritating amount of talent in weaving a win-win situation for himself. 

"This is your man," Will said at last, pointing at the white man curled in the middle of the mural.

"What do you mean?" Beverly frowned. 

"I mean, the man who killed all of them," Will circled around the bodies with his finger. "He got swen into his own work."

"Then where's his leg?"

 _Good question, Beverly_ , Will thought, careful not to glare at Hannibal too much.

"The guy who sewed him in took a piece of him," he said. "Wanted to keep it."

Hannibal smiled, as if the sparsely worded description was all he ever needed. "He must have had a friend."

Beverly shot a weird look at Hannibal. Yes, people tended to do that when someone made an association between a trophy and a friend. Will hoped that these little glimpses, this need of Hannibal to peacock himself in front ov Will, would help Beverly see the truth.

"Thanks. It helped a lot," Beverly said, not commenting anything on Hannibal. She gave him a look before she took the file back. She knew that Will still suspected Hannibal as a killer. She knew that he wouldn't say everything in his mind in front of him. She would come back later without Hannibal in her tow. Will took comfort from that.

Hannibal lingered back a moment after Beverly showed herself out. 

"God looked back on our man, didn't he?" Hannibal asked. The question sounded deceptively weightless, thrown like an idle speculation.

Will smiled, more of baring his teeth than anything else.

"Some God that was."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so it seems like I'd be writing series of oneshots following canon events. There's going to be more to follow. Thanks for your review!

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was supposed to be crack, but to my despair, these two are just too good at this. Why won't you fumble around one syllable words limitation like normal people??
> 
> Did you like it? I'll try to write other instances in which Hannibal and Will play words of one syllable game if so :)


End file.
